Welcome to The Miami Classical Guitar Society! Now celebrating an exciting 27th Season, 2014-2015! We hope you will join us!

A non-profit 501c3 cultural organization, the MCGS initiated and developed a guitar movement in the city of Miami in 1987, establishing South Florida as a hub of international importance for the instrument. With a mission to promote the art and appreciation of the Classical Guitar in our community, the MCGS has organized close to 200 concerts featuring the top international world renowned guitarists, as well as national and local performers. Dedicated to enhancing awareness, appreciation, and education of this beautiful instrument, the MCGS has offered guitar lovers, local performers, teachers, and students the means to further develop their talents and passion for the classical guitar through our yearly cultural programming of concerts, master classes, lectures, lecture-recitals, guitar courses, ensembles, and international competitions.

One of the most thriving guitar societies in the US, the MCGS has also directed two of the most prestigious International Guitar Festivals in the country with the Guitar Foundation of America, created the First Guitar Ensemble Festival of Miami, founded Miami's First International Guitar Competition, among many other educational and social events, for close to three decades.

Our initial goal of promoting the classical guitar within South Florida has been fulfilled, and we can now take part in this wonderful cultural experience. Please join us this Season!

DIMITRI ILLARIONOV (Russia)

CONCERT: Saturday, May 2, 2015 - 8:00 PM

"Blessed with the star gene … with such temperament, musicianship, richness of colour, radiance, sense of timing and feeling the acoustic qualities of his soft-toned instrument that the combination of all these abilities, coupled with an evident gift for entertainment, is the best expressed in one single word: wow!” - Tages-Anzeiger (Zurich, Switzerland)

Dimitri ILLARIONOV (b. 1979) is a multi-award winner of more than 20 international competitions in the U.S., Spain, Italy, Poland, Russia and other countries, including First Prize Winner of two of the most prestigious guitar competitions in the world: Guitar Foundation of America International Competition (2002, Miami, USA) and Francisco Tárrega International Competition (2008, Spain), where he was the first Russian winner in the 42-year history of the competition.

Dimitri Illarionov is artistic director of the Novosibirsk Guitar Festival – one of the most important guitar festivals in Russia. He has given concerts in Europe, Asia, North and South America in some of the most prestigious halls in the world – Tonhalle (Zurich), Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, Osaka Symphony Hall, Seoul Arts Center etc. Taking part in many festivals, Dimitri was the first solo guitarist to participate in “Orpheum Foundation for the Advancement of Young Soloists” (Switzerland) and the International Chamber Music Festival in Utrecht (Artistic Director – Janine Jansen, Holland).

Dimitri studied in Russia with the famous performer Alexander Frauchi and also took lessons with composer Nikita Koshkin, and in Germany with Professor Andreas von Wangenheim. Dimitri is now professor at the Russian Gnesins’s University of Music in Moscow. Dimitri Illarionov has recorded several CDs: solo for the Naxos and Daminus labels, with orchestra for Les Editions Doberman-Yppan. His “Classical Duo” CD (Delos Records) with Boris Andrianov was on the long-list of the prestigious “GRAMMY-2004” Awards. Composers have dedicated works to Dimitri, including Angelo Gilardino (Italy) who wrote for him the Concerto "Star of the Morning" (Homage to Nikolaj Roerich) for Guitar, Cello and Orchestra; Nikita Koshkin (Russia) dedicated to Dimitri his Concerto Grosso for Guitar and Orchestra; Alexei Rybnikov (Russia) wrote for Dimitri the Suite “Travel though Time” for Guitar and Orchestra. From 2006 to 2009, Dimitri, together with the Moscow State Philharmonic Society, was organizer and one of the founders of the International “Guitar Virtuosi” Moscow Festival, held in one of the most prestigious halls in the world – Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall. Since 2009, Dimitri is one of the organizers of the Alexander Frauchi International Guitar Competition and is director of the classical section of the largest guitar festival in Russia, the World of Guitar Kaluga International Festival.

CONCERT: Saturday, April 18, 2015 - 8:00 PM

The Miami Classical Guitar Society is proud to present one of the most renowned guitar duos of today, guitarist DENIS AZABAGIC (Bosnia), and flutist EUGENIA MOLINER (Spain) ~ CAVATINA DUO!

“This pair is considered to be the best of them (flute and guitar duos)” ~NEW YORKER MAGAZINE

CAVATINA DUO has captivated audiences with their electrifying performances in major venues and festivals across Europe, the USA, and Asia, such as the Ravinia Festival, The Harris Theater, DaCamera Society (Los Angeles), Buntrock Hall at Symphony Center in Chicago, Mainly Mozart San Diego, National Performing Arts Center in Beijing, China, the Opening Gala at the 2008 National Flute Association Conference USA, the Aix-en-Provence Summer Festival in France, the Eem & Veem Festival in Groningen, Netherlands, the International Guitar Festival in Frechen, Germany, The Link (Netherlands), and in three occasions at the National Concert Hall in Taipei (Taiwan), among many others.

Composers from around the world have written and dedicated new works to the Cavatina duo; Sérgio Assad and Clarice Assad (Brazil); Carlos Rivera, Michael Karmon; Alan Thomas (UK-USA), Erik Otte (the Netherlands); Alejandro Yagüe (Spain); Boris Gaquere (Belgium) and V. Ivanovic (Bosnia/Greece). The Duo received the Encore Prize in 2003 for their collaboration with Michael Karmon. They have recorded five CD’s.

Prize winner in 24 international guitar competitions, Denis Azabagic has been described as “a virtuoso with flawless technique.” As a guest instrumentalist and soloist, Azabagic has appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Sacramento Chamber Orchestra, Madrid Symphony, L’Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Mons, among others. He is a regular guest at such venues as Chicago’s Symphony Center, Masters of the Guitar at the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Radio France in Paris, Aix en Provence Festival, France, El Palau de la Musica, Valencia-Spain, Savannah on Stage, USA, Omni Foundation and Ravinia Festival, USA, National Chang Kai Shek Cultural Center, Taiwan, National Center for the Performing Arts, Beijing, China.

Flutist Eugenia Moliner has been acclaimed as a “brilliant young musician.” Moliner has performed recitals with pianist Rob Broek and the New Opus Trio, and collaborated with the Chicago Symphony and Rotterdam Philharmonic principals and co-principal players, the Rotterdam Baroque Ensemble, the National Philharmonic of the Netherlands and the Montebello Ensemble, among others. As a soloist she has appeared with the Chicago Sinfonieta, the Camerata Serbica, Sarajevo Philharmonic, Monterrey symphony and Traverse Symphony.

*MASTERCLASS: Friday, April 17, 5:00pm - 8:00pm (Open to the Public)

MASTERCLASS PERFORMERS: Registration is required*Please note: Masterclass is opened to both Guitar and Flute participants.
Email: info(at)miamiguitar.org / Subject Line: "Masterclass Performer Registration - Cavatina Duo" for more info.
Limited number of Performer spaces available. Preference will be given to MCGS Members.

Hugo MOLTO MEDINA’s classical guitar style favors nuance. Delicate passages are languid and unrushed. His career, on the other hand, is anything but.

Just ten short years after he began studying classical guitar, in 2003, Hugo earned an invitation to perform at Carnegie Hall. Everything in between is the story of an extraordinary talent developing at an incredible rate.

The nineteen-year-old guitarist from Dénia, Spain, showed an interest in music at an early age. But it was discovering classical guitar that fortified his musical life. Shortly after entering Dénia’s Conservatory of Music, Hugo began performing throughout Spain and France. This led to his participation at many regional and national competitions, and a glimpse of what was to come.

As his career progressed his travel radius widened to include international competitions. Hugo earned top prizes at the International Guitar Competition XI of Benidorm (first prize, 2009), International Contest VII of Young Performers “Liria City” (first prize, 2011) and International Guitar Competition II “Jijona City” (first prize, 2011), among others.

In August 2013 he won first prize at the International Classical Guitar Competition XVII “Ciudad de Coria,” which included an invitation from the D’Addario Foundation to perform at Carnegie Hall.

Concerts kept Hugo busy, too. In March 2012, accompanied by the Metropolitan Orchestra of Madrid, he performed Joaquín Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez” in the Symphony Hall of Spain’s National Auditorium.

Born in Linares, Spain, Ricardo GALLEN began playing classical guitar at the age of four, performing in public just a year later. At the age of ten he entered the Conservatory of Music in Cordoba, receiving his first formal music education by the Conservatory's director and founder Tomás Villajos Soler. He continued his studies at the Conservatories of Jaén, Cordoba, Madrid, and Granada, and later studied guitar and ancient music at the Universities of Mozarteum, University of Salzburg, and Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, with the Masters Eliot Fisk, Christoph Eglhuber, Jürgen Hübscher and Joaquin Clerch. In 1999, Gallén completed the Meisterklassendiplom (Konzertexam) in the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, under Joaquin Clerch, in addition to winning numerous international competition prizes. He has been a professor of superior level at the Ramon Llull University, the University of Extremadura, the Superior de Música de Aragón in Zaragoza and the Palma de Mallorca Conservatories of Music in Spain, the Mozarteum of Salzburg in Austria, and the Hochenschule fur Musik in Germany, where he presently teaches.

Gallén has given recitals all over the world, with solo performances, duets, as well as with orchestras, under the direction of conductors such as Maximiano Valdes, En Shao, Juan Jose Mena, Monica Huggett, Leo Brouwer, Jordi Savall and Seirgiu Comisiona, in more than 30 countries throughout Europe and America, including Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Cuba, USA, Costa Rica, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel. He has performed in prestigious concert halls such as the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, National National Auditorium of Music, in Madrid, L'Auditori and Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, Shostakovich Hall in Saint Petersburg and Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow. In addition, he has been a jury member in numerous International Guitar Competitions, as well as taught master classes in Austria, Germany, Poland, Israel, USA, Chile, Lebanon, Portugal, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Slovakia, France, Greece, Romania, Spain, Finland, France, Australia, New Zealand.

Gallén's first album was one of Naxos Records best-selling albums in 2001, and received sensational reviews in the specialized press. It was followed by five more albums published by Naxos, in which he performs music by Mauro Giuliani, Leo Brouwer, Toru Takemitsu, etc., as well as all of the concerts for guitar and orchestra by the Spanish Maestro Joaquin Rodrigo. In 2013 his double CD with the Bach Complete Lute Suites was released with Sunnyside Records, and in May 2014 his last CD, Fernando Sor - Guitar Sonatas was released, by Eudora Records. He has also recorded for Radio and Television in various countries including Spain, Finland, Belgium, Romania, Germany, Cuba, Mexico, South Korea and Bulgaria.

Gallen's concert will include a premiere of a new Sonata dedicated to him by Leo Brouwer.

MASTERCLASS PERFORMERS: Registration is required.
Email: info(at)miamiguitar.org / Subject Line: "Masterclass Performer Registration" for more info.
Limited number of Performer spaces available. Preference will be given to MCGS Members. Non-members will be registered on a first come, first serve basis.

Anton BARANOV is a prizewinner of more then fifteen prestigious international guitar competitions, including the Koblenz Guitar Competition, Andrés Segovia Competition, Agustín Barrios Competition, Robert Vidal Competition, and Pittaluga Guitar Competition. At the height of his young career, he won both the Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition and the Francisco Tárrega Competition in 2013.

Known for his daring interpretation and innovative programming, guitarist and composer Roland Dyens calls him, “a real musician, one of those rare guitarists who are able to have their attendees almost forget the instrument they play, managing to have them focus on the expressivity of the music and only this.”

As part of his prize from winning the GFA competition, Mr. Baranov will embark on a 50-city concert tour throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Brazil, including his debut at New York's Carnegie Hall later this month. He has just recorded his first album on the Naxos label, and has been a D'Addario artist since 2013. He currently teaches at his alma mater, the St. Petersburg Conservatory.

Anton Baranov was born in 1984 in the Northwest region of Russia. He graduated from the famous St. Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in 2010 under grants from the Russian Ministry of Culture and the Russian Performing Arts Foundation.